In a recent judgement, the Kerala High Court sets aside an assessment order under Central Goods and Service Tax ( CGST) Act, 2017 passed before expiry of time to file reply. The court found that the fact that the assessee had filed an appeal against the assessment order is no ground to refuse relief to the assessee as the order was clearly issued in violation of principles of natural justice.
Elsy Joy, the assessee has filed a writ petition challenging the assessment order issued under the provisions of Section 73 of the CGST/SGST Acts. A show cause notice dated June 20, 2023, granted the assessee until July 21, 2023, to file a reply.An assessment order was issued on July 11, 2023, prior to the expiration of the allotted time for the assessee to respond.
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The department submitted that the assessee has already availed the remedy of filing an appeal against the order, claiming the benefit of the notification which clearly, on its terms, was not applicable to the assessee. It was submitted that, the appeal filed by the assessee was also rejected by another order finding that it was barred by limitation.
The bench noted that though the assessee may have filed an appeal against the assessment order ( which was rejected by another order as being time barred ), the fact remains that another order was passed in violation of principles of natural justice.
It was evident that show cause notice that the assessee was given time till 21.07.2023 to reply to the show cause notice. The order appears to have been passed on 11.07.2023, even before the time for filing a reply had expired. Therefore, the order is liable to be set aside.
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The court found that the fact that the assessee had filed an appeal against the assessment order is no ground to refuse relief to the assessee as the order was clearly issued in violation of principles of natural justice.
The single bench of Justice Gopinath P. observed that .the assessee had filed an appeal against the order is no ground to refuse relief to the assessee as the original order was clearly issued in violation of principles of natural justice. The bench allowed the petition and set aside the assessment order.
Padmanathan K.V. and R. Sreejith appeared on behalf of the petitioner. Dayasindhu Shreehari N.S. and Jasmin M.M appeared for the respondent.
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